Elections Time in the US

2 de noviembre de 2016

blog-11-_donkeys-in-the-electionsblog11_elephants-in-the-elections

And the 45th president of the United States of America is ……

By the time many of you read this post, the result of the 2016 United States presidential election will be known.  You will now know if the president is a woman for the first time, or whether US electors have decided to throw caution to the wind and vote for the controversial figure of Donald Trump.

Do you know however, that the United States presidential elections are always held in November and depending on the calendar for a particular year, can be on any day between 2 – 8th November?

There is a reason for this and it dates back to 1792 when a law was passed stating that the election for the president of the United States should be held after the harvesting had finished and before the winter really arrived in full force. When is that?  The first week in November.

Hilary Clinton is the Democratic Party’s nominee and Donald Trump the Republican Party’s. The Democrats have a donkey as their symbol, whereas the Republicans have an elephant.  The donkey was first used in the 1828 election campaign and the elephant came a little later in 1874.  Nowadays the Democrats say the donkey is smart and brave and the Republicans say the elephant is strong and dignified. Would you agree?

And thinking of other political parties, which animals would you associate with them? There are plenty to choose from… bats, chameleons, snakes, rabbits, foxes…..

Let’s have your ideas on the subject.

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Meritxell Roman3 de noviembre de 2016 a las 17:33

It’s funny how it changes the way to choose the president from one continent to another.
Here in Spain the elections are held every four years, however, as we had 10 months without a president or deputies. That if all receivables.

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Fernando Pay Vázquez3 de noviembre de 2016 a las 21:46

Today is 3rd of November and election has not been held yet.
Yesterday, at work I was talking about U.S. presidential election with an old woman that is married to a retired U.S. soldier that was in Torrejón. She has double nationality and I ask her what she thought about the election.
As a wife of a former soldier, she was very rude about Hillary Clinton for her negligence with emails. According to her Hillary put in danger many soldiers around the world.
Then I ask what she thought about Trump ideas of immigrants or women. She said all immigrants had to be regulated and about women, Trump did not tell anything wrong.
In that moment, I stopped the talk and apologised for cutting it for having to do something inside the office. She was getting angry and for me, it was just curiosity.

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Eva4 de noviembre de 2016 a las 20:27

Wow! I didn’t know about the way the dates of US elections were established.

I found funny the animals that represent the Democrats and the Republicans. I had never realised about it. I’ll pay attention when they appear on TV and look for these symbols.

In our country, we could associate certain parties to chameleons for the ease they change of ideas and other with foxes because they attack at night when nobody expects it.

Eva

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Carlos Lores6 de noviembre de 2016 a las 13:39

Lots of subjects have a seasonal reason. In those days, the economy of the former colony was based on the agriculture, so it was the main activity of the inhabitants.
But the system how Americans elect the president of the United States is a little bit complex.
If you want to know about it have a look at the following links:

1.- Primaries and caucuses:
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/american-civics-parent/american-civics/v/primaries-and-caucuses
2.- Electoral college:
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/american-civics-parent/american-civics/v/electoral-college
3.- «How we elect the president of the United States»:
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/american-civics-parent/american-civics/v/sal-teaches-grover-about-the-electoral-college
4.- Number of Delegates to the National Conventions
http://www.electoral-vote.com/
http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2016/Info/delegates.html

Enjoy it.
Best wishes.
Carlos

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